The Bobcats had been in this situation before, and they didn’t like the result they got.

That previous experience paid off when the Marshalltown boys’ soccer team beat back Des Moines East 6-2 on Friday night, pulling away from the Scarlets when memories of a disheartening tie started to rise in the back of their minds.

That 4-4 tie at Perry, though it felt like a loss, was the last time these Bobcats didn’t win.

Aaron Ordaz Zambrano and Rafael Ortiz both had two goals and an assist as Marshalltown improved to 9-4-1 with Friday’s Iowa Alliance Conference triumph on Senior Night at Leonard Cole Field.

The Bobcats led host Perry 4-2 late in their match on April 21, but the Bluejays rallied to force a 4-4 draw.

Head coach Scott Johannes said his team took that lesson to heart, and the result has been five-straight wins by a combined score of 31-3. It’s the most consecutive wins for the Bobcat boys’ soccer team since the 2019 squad won 13 in a row before eventually getting to state.

“Several guys talked about that tie being worse than a loss,” Johannes said of that night in Perry, “but it was one of those that got their attention. We said ‘you know what, we have to play to the final whistle because that was all in the last couple minutes.'”

The Bobcats learned the lesson and haven’t relented since, even when Friday’s four-goal lead was reduced to two in a matter of minutes.

Marshalltown carried a 3-0 lead into halftime thanks to first-half goals from Ortiz, Fabian Segovia and Ordaz Zambrano. Ortiz broke the ice after taking a pass from Andres Ordaz Zambrano, splitting two defenders and eluding the Des Moines East goalkeeper for a chip on goal.

Segovia made it 2-0 at the 28:39 mark with a rocketed right-footer off a drop pass from Aaron Ordaz Zambrano. Ordaz Zambrano converted a penalty kick with 6:39 left in the half after Ortiz was taken to the ground in the goal area, and the Bobcats were off and running with a 3-0 lead.

Des Moines East (5-8-1) played a spirited second half right off the whistle, but Marshalltown continued to pour it on. Luis Monge Jr. took a pass up the left sideline from Gavin Misek and dismantled a host of defenders as well as Scarlets goalkeeper Cristian Ruiz for a goal and a 4-0 lead.

“Our team is doing really good at scoring so hopefully we keep on scoring every single game like this and we keep on winning,” said Monge. “East did a really good job to pressure us and they had a lot of really good opportunities to score on us, but our defense did a really great job.”

Jonathan Nunez finished the match with seven saves and Giles Smith made one stop in 12 minutes in a reserve role, but the Bobcats couldn’t keep East off the scoresheet. Sale Shaddin converted a penalty kick with 31:57 remaining, and Shaddin assisted on a goal for Javier Riveros-Ortiz to make it 4-2 with 22:05 left in the match.

“The team is doing a great job finishing games,” Monge said. “The Perry game we should have won that game, but after Perry we ended up just locking in. Maybe we do have chances but we just weren’t locked in, but at the end of the game we have to finish.”

Its four-goal lead suddenly sliced in half, Marshalltown made sure the Perry game wasn’t going to come back around.

Aaron Ordaz Zambrano took a drop pass from Ortiz and chipped it over the goalkeeper’s head for a 5-2 lead with 19:16 left, and Ortiz added his second score off a pass from Jesus Maravilla Ordaz with 15:58 to play.

“We’re close to the end so we’ve gotta tighten things up of course, but at the same time what I wanted was a statement win,” Johannes said. “They’ve played several tight games as well as we have and you want the best seed you can, so we need some things here at the end.”

The loss was the fourth-straight for East, with the previous three being one-goal defeats.

Marshalltown outshot the Scarlets 19-18, getting 15 shots on goal to East’s 10. Ruiz finished with nine saves.

Nunez made a number of impressive stops in net for Marshalltown, including one off a header by East’s Ramkel Tuoch off a free kick into the box in the 52nd minute.

The Bobcats play one final home game this regular season, entertaining Ottumwa on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Leonard Cole Field.